Monster Mash (2000 film)

Monster Mash (Italian: Chi ha paura?) is a 2000 Italian-American direct-to-video animated musical comedy horror film co-produced by DIC Entertainment, L.P. and Rai Fiction. It is an original story, based on the lore of Frankenstein's monster, the Wolfman, and Count Dracula.

Monster Mash
Directed by	Guido Manuli
Written by	Guido Manuli Judy Rothman Rofé
Produced by	Andy Heyward Robby London Michael Maliani
Starring	David Sobolov Scott McNeil Ian James Corlett Janyse Jaud Tabitha St. Germain
Narrated by	Phil Trainer
Edited by	Tom King Ian Bartell
Music by	John Carnochan
Production companies	DIC Entertainment, L.P. RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana RAI Fiction
Distributed by	Universal Studios Home Video (North America) RAI Trade (Europe, EMEA, Asia)
Release date	August 29, 2000 (2000-08-29)
Running time	60 minutes
Countries	Italy United States
Language	English
Budget	$2 million

Plot

At Monstermash Park, the skeletal dog Yorick talks about his owners Drac, Frank, and Wolf. They were the scariest monsters around and became a inspiration to monsters everywhere where they struck fear in the local mortals. As the years go by, they lose their ability to scare in which they became associated with fun and were shown to have a heart when Frank didn't scare a little girl during one of their scaring activity.

Upon Drac, Frank, and Wolf's activities getting known, they are visited by a troll public server who reads them a summons to appear before the Superior Court of Horrors. Their court date was scheduled for just before Halloween where they are represented by a mummy defense attorney who once got $1,000,000.00 for Mr. Hyde when he sued Dr. Jekyll for malpractice. The Grim Reaper Prosecutor gets the testimony from the monster dentist Dr. Decay who talks about Drac losing his fangs and now wears false teeth. Then the Prosecutor gets a testimony from monster hair loss specialist Dr. Grogaine who mentions about Wolf's different bald spots. As the Prosecutor's final exhibit, he brings in a human baby where Wolf fails to scare it and Frank shows a soft spot. The Mummy constantly objects as the Judge briefly places his head on the Mummy's body to get the verdict from the skeleton jury. Because the jury's written verdict is deadlocked, the judge declares that they have a hung jury. In exchange for Drac, Wolf, and Frank being released, the Judge states that they must prove that they are still scary by the end of 24 hours or they will be thrown out of the Ghoul Guild and sentenced to an eternity entertaining at children's parties. When the Prosecutor asks what family he has in mind, the Judge assigns the trio to scare the suburban Tinklemeister family consisting of Mr. Tinklemeister, Mrs. Tinklemeister, Stella Tinklemeister, and the mostly-whistling Spike Tinklemeister.

Upon bringing the Tinklemeisters to Transylvania, Drac, Wolf, and Frank try every attempt to scare them to no avail. The Prosecutor sends three modern monsters – Freddie de Spaghetti: King of Carbohydrates (a humanoid spaghetti monster based on Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees), Chicky: the Doll of Destruction (a reality warping wind-up toy based on Chucky) and the Alien Eater (a creature from another dimension based on the Xenomorph) – to make sure that they all fail in their mission. Surrendering from the final attempt, the trio informs the Tinklemeisters their story. The Tinklemeisters help them to prove that they are still scary. When Freddie, Chicky, and the Alien Eater attack, Drac, Wolf, and Frank take refuge in a lab. Stella spins Drac around enough for his fangs to come out as Spike pours a formula on Drac's false fangs. Then Spike charges up Frank while Mr. Tinklemeister applies special shampoo to get rid of the gray hairs on Wolf. They managed to scare off Freddie, Chicky, and the Alien Eater.

At the Superior Court of Horrors, the Prosecutor states that Drac, Wolf, and Frank have failed as the Tinklemeisters see the court case on their television. To the dismay of the Prosecutor, the Judge states that Drac, Wolf, and Frank still did some scaring. The Superior Court of Horrors' surprise witness is Spike who finally speaks for the first time where he speaks in the defense of Drac, Wolf, and Frank. He admitted that the monsters from the horror comics made him too scared to speak and why he whistled all the time much to the surprise of his family. Spike continues by stating that Freddie, Chicky, and the Alien Eater "turned to putty" when they met some "real monsters" in the form of Drac, Wolf, and Frank. Moved by Spike's speech and in accordance to Loophole #381B, the Judge reinstates Drac, Wolf, and Frank into the Ghoul Guild for eternity.

Back in the present, Yorick stated that Drac, Wolf, and Frank were inducted into the Monster Hall of Fame and the heart and souls of the Tinklemeister family forever. After opening an amusement park on the castle grounds, Drac, Wolf, and Frank's desire to haunt the public returned. At Monstermash Park, the tourists ride a roller coaster where they dodge Freddie's attacks, throw tomatoes at the Alien Eater, control the channels that Chicky appears on, and getting a scare from Drac, Wolf, and Frank.

Cast

• French Tickner as Drac, the king of vampires and leader of the group
• Scott McNeil as Wolf, the howling rockstar of the group
• David Sobolov as:
  • Frank, the stitched-up muscle of the group
  • Alien Eater, a dimwitted big-lipped alien from another dimension
• Janyse Jaud as:
  • Spike Tinklemeister, the youngest and smartest of the family who only communicates through whistling and has read many horror comics
  • Mrs. Tinklemeister, the matriarch of the family who is obsessed with cleaning up messes
• Robert O. Smith as Mr. Tinklemeister, the patriarch of the family who is a professional dog groomer
• Patricia Drake as Stella Tinklemeister, Spike's fun-loving older sister
• Phil Trainer as Yorick, a talking skeleton dog who is the narrator of the story
• Dave "Squatch" Ward as Freddie de Spaghetti, a hockey mask wearing monster that is made of pasta
• Tabitha St. Germain as Chicky, a possessed wind-up doll that can warp reality with her remote
• Phil Hayes as The Judge, the skeletal "ogre" (the monster community's word for "honor") of the Superior Court of Horrors who likes to play basketball with his own head
• Jim Byrnes as the Grim Reaper Prosecutor, the cloaked lawyer who wants to win the case against the main trio
• Ian James Corlett as Mummy Lawyer, the bandaged defense attorney of the main trio

Production

The film was originally titled Who's Afraid?, until the then-Disney-owned DIC Entertainment picked up the project from RAI as part of a four-year on-and-off deal between both companies. The movie's title was changed after DIC acquired the rights to the "Monster Mash" song, and brought along Judy Rothman Rofé to modify the script to suit American audiences. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment was originally intended to distribute the film, but backed out of the deal, with PolyGram Video acquiring home video rights while Buena Vista Television held television distribution rights. The film has a $2 million budget.

Internationally, distribution was shared between Universal and RAI; with RAI Trade handling home video distribution sales in Europe, EMEA and Asian territories while Universal Pictures Video picked up all remaining territories.

Songs

• "Monster Mash" (Robert Pickett)
• "Waiting for Spike to Speak" (Matt McGuire) – Mom, Dad and Stella
• "The Heebe Jeebe" (McGuire, Karen Guthery)
• "When We Were Bad" (Sandy Howell, Geoff Levin) – Frank, Drac and Wolf
• "Monster Mash"
  • Funk Groove arrangement by David Pavlovitch
  • Country arrangement by Matt McGuire
  • Alternative Angst arrangement by Jason Michas

Release

Monster Mash was released on VHS on August 29, 2000, in the United States and Canada by Universal Studios Home Video as part of the Haunted House of Fun promotion, alongside Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman and Archie's Weird Mysteries: Archie and the Riverdale Vampires.

The film saw a VHS and DVD release in Italy in October 2003 by Alfadedis Entertainment and Medusa Video.

In the United States and Canada, the feature was bundled alongside Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein, Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman and four episodes of Archie's Weird Mysteries as part of the Monster Bash Fun Pack DVD on September 7, 2004.

A standalone DVD was released by NCircle Entertainment in 2007. This release of the film removes a metafictional moment towards the end of the film as well as the "Monster Mash" music video due to copyright restrictions with the song cover.

External links

• Monster Mash at IMDb
• Monster Mash at Rotten Tomatoes